TN pharmacy board sets July meeting

Jun. 29, 2013

Nina Smothers, the state Board of Pharmacy's representative to a task force on compounding, reports on findings from an FDA national meeting at a Board of Pharmacy meeting in January. / Dipti Vaidya / File / The Tennessean

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The Tennessean

The Tennessee Board of Pharmacy will take disciplinary actions and consider requests for reinstatement of licenses when it meets July 9 and 10.

The meeting occurs as new rules are coming into effect allowing the state to take quicker action against a compounder’s license when a serious safety issue arises. The board has had to deal with two outbreaks in the past year stemming from contaminated medicines made by compounding labs.

July’s meeting begins at 9 a.m. July 9 in the Iris Room at 227 French Landing. The second day begins at 8 a.m. July 10 at the same location.

Other new rules recently instituted by the board create a separate licensing category for medicine manufacturers, require proof that a manufacturer is registered with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and require special registration whenever any pharmacy — whether retailer, manufacturer or wholesaler — performs sterile compounding.

The board began looking at its rules following the fungal meningitis outbreak that began last summer. A more recent outbreak underscored the need for better regulations.

While the fungal meningitis outbreak, which was first discovered in Tennessee, was traced to a steroid made by Massachusetts-based New England Compounding Center, another outbreak of what have thus far been less serious illnesses involving the same medicine has been linked to a Tennessee-based operation, Main Street Family Pharmacy in Newbern.